Brussels, 25/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 25 September, the European Commission proposed to open the European Union market fully to wine imports from the Republic of Moldova. Russia, on the other hand, has just imposed an embargo on these imports.
This decision will come earlier than the date envisaged for the provisional application of the EU-Republic of Moldova association agreement and the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement (DCFTA) that is associated with it.
“A fully opened EU market for Moldovan wines in a time when Moldovan farmers are in difficulty, reflects that, beyond being a very successful economic integration project, the EU is also a space of solidarity”, said European Commissioner for Agriculture Dacian Ciolos. The Commission “will ask the Council and the Parliament to do their utmost for a speedy adoption of this modification”, he added.
The Commission explained that this was about a measure aiming to reduce Moldova's difficulties in its wine exports to some of its traditional markets. Before the embargo, Russia represented 28% of Moldova's wine exports - in other words $56 million per year. Ciolos stressed that the EU market is a sustainable alternative and a viable centre of stability for the Moldovan wine sector.
Last June, the EU and Moldova finalised the negotiations for a historic association agreement, which especially provides for the creation of a deep and comprehensive free trade area between the EU and Chisinau. This agreement, which Moscow criticises, is due to be signed next November at the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius. In office since April, Moldova's Prime Minister Iurie Leanca has always favoured his country's European integration. Moldova was formerly a Soviet state.
The DFCTA provides for the complete liberalisation of the EU market, without restriction, for imports of Moldovan wine and abolishes the current regime of autonomous trade preferences (ATP) - which provides for a quota of 240,000 hectolitres of wine per year. (LC/transl.fl)